Mersawa (Anisoptera)

Mersawa is an imported hardwood

Location

Mersawa is one of the common names applied to the genus Anisoptera, which has about 15 species distributed from the Philippine Islands and Malaysia to east Pakistan. Names applied to this wood vary with the source, and three names are generally used in the lumber trade: krabak (Thailand), mersawa (Malaysia), and palosapis (Philippines).

Characteristics

Mersawa wood is light in color and has a moderately coarse texture. Freshly sawn heartwood is pale yellow or yellowish brown and darkens on exposure to air. Some wood may show a pinkish cast or pink streaks, but these eventually disappear on exposure to air. The wood weighs between 544 and 752 kg/m3 (34 and 47 lb/ft3) at 12% moisture content and about 945 kg/m3 (59 lb/ft3) when green. The sapwood is susceptible to attack by powderpost beetles, and the heartwood is not resistant to termites. The heartwood is rated as moderately resistant to fungal decay and should not be used under conditions that favor decay. The heartwood does not absorb preservative solutions readily. The wood machines easily, but because of the presence of silica, the wood severely dulls the cutting edges of ordinary tools and is very hard on saws.

Primary Uses

The major volume of mersawa will probably be used as plywood because conversion in this form presents considerably less difficulty than does the production of lumber.

*Much of the base wood information presented here is made available by the USDA FPL FS. If you are interested in a much more technical description of wood properties, I encourage you to visit the source.